The reason why the music [jazz] is important is because it's an art form-an ancient art form-that takes in the mythology of our people.
Interpretation
Jazz is a vital art form that reflects the cultural stories of a community.
Wynton Marsalis highlights the significance of jazz music as more than just entertainment; it serves as a historical and cultural expression that embodies the mythology and heritage of the people. This ancient art form captures a rich tapestry of experiences and stories, connecting individuals to their roots and shared history.
In practice
In a speech about cultural preservation, you might say, 'As Wynton Marsalis points out, jazz is vital because it encapsulates the mythology of our people.'
Swing is extreme coordination. It's a maintaining balance, equilibrium. It's about executing very difficult rhythms with a panache and a feeling in the context of very strict time. So, everything about the swing is about some guideline and some grid and the elegant way that you negotiate your way through that grid.
Many of our greatest musicians abandoned all of their aesthetic objectives to try to become pertinent. And, at the end of the day, they never became pop stars. I counter stated that very strongly, and I continue to do that.
Jazz music is the power of now. There is no script. It's conversation. The emotion is given to you by musicians as they make split-second decisions to fulfill what they feel the moment requires.
The blues. It runs through all American music. Somebody bending the note. The other is the two-beat groove. It's in New Orleans music, it's in jazz, it's in country music, it's in gospel.
In Jazz, improvisation isn't a matter of just making any ol' thing up. Jazz, like any language, has its own grammer and vocabulary. There's no right or wrong, just some choices that are better than others.
My daddy thought - no, he expected - that my brothers and I and our generation would make the world a better place. He was correct in his belief because he had lived in an America of continual social progress, depression followed by prosperity, segregation by integration, and so on.
When the audience comes in, it changes the temperature of what you've written.
These people live again in print as intensely as when their images were captured on old dry plates of sixty years ago... I am walking in their alleys, standing in their rooms and sheds and workshops, looking in and out of their windows. Any they in turn seem to be aware of me.
I like light, color, luminosity. I like things full of color and vibrant.
What do dancers think of Fred Astaire? It's no secret. We hate him. He gives us a complex because he's too perfect. His perfection is an absurdity. It's too hard to face.
Although cover notes for classical music albums tend to say that the trill of flutes suggests mountain streams and so on, I don't think anybody listens to music with the expectation that they're going to be presented with a sort of landscape painting.
A writer's work is the product of laziness.
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